It is not the same any more

Q: What is the worst thing about a lazy day out in nature?

A: The journey back home.

As children we loved visiting our favorite picnic spots in Paarl. It was a carefree day of fun under tall trees next to a little river.
We had a picnic, explored the environment, had a swim, and ate ourselves dik then we started all over again, while the old people had to sleep it off on the camp chairs or a blanket on the grass.

I no longer consider such an outing fun. Just the thought of having to dodge the traffic, on the way back to Tableview, undoes all the relaxation of the day. My my nerves are as knotted as it has been before the trip when I get back home.

Then there the idiots and smart Alex’es who know just how to bring your blood to boiling point, when they squeeze into your lane, while you queue at the bottle neck in the road into Tableview.
You also have to figure out which is the best lane to queue in. I seem to mark one car in the other lane and see who moves the quickest. One can never see the cause of the holdup until you passed it.

When you get home you have all the picnic things to clean away and the family will be looking at you with big eyes for their next tummy fillers or just coffee to get the old nerves back to its normal stress levels.

If you live in and around Tableview, it is silly to go all the way to Paarl just to sit under the trees.
We may not have many shady trees in our nature areas left, but we still have a lovely dam and beaches where we can enjoy a relaxing day out.

People, who live in Tableview, do not appreciate or utilize the resources right on their doorsteps.

We have some of the best shops, nature walks, parks, water sport areas and beaches right here, on our doorsteps, and much of it is free. The only thing we do not have a lot of in our nature areas are shady trees to sit under, so perhaps a tranquil visit to deeper in the country now and again may still be warranted.

My garden is like a rain-forest. If I want to sit under a shady tree near water, I just have to put the sprinkler on and fold the beach chair open. I possibly have more birds concentrated on one spot than anywhere in Rietvlei.

Five big trees have been cut down in our area recently. It is the height of breeding season so we have birds breeding at eye level.

It is difficult to know when it is the best time to trim trees now that conservation removed all the alien trees, which is just about all the trees in the nature area. The birds seem to compensate by breeding all the year around.


Of wat praat ek alles

Doggy poop - what to do with it.

My dog made a soft poop on someone's lawn the other day. I did not know what to do because I forgot the plastic bag at home. Even if I had a plastic bag, how does one scrape a soft poop from the grass? It will take forever. We shouted at the dog but it was a matter of “If you got to go, you got to go".
So I walked on pretending I did not see it and hoped no-one was looking through the window and spotted me as the culprit. The right thing would have been, possibly to write a note of apology and leave it in the letter box, but that will only cause a temporary irritation to turn into a longtime memory. Once you put a face to a poop it burns into your memory bank.
What to do with the poop once you collected it is the next problem. We have no doggy poop bins on our doggy trail. Some people just dump the plastic bags on the field and other throw it into the storm water drain to clog up our beaches and wetlands.
I was thinking of getting one of those plastic, washable gift bags especially to be used as a dog poop bag.

Photograph: Storm-water draining into Rietvlei. Feb 2010

I was reading somewhere that someone suggested we make electricity with it.

Of wat praat ek alles

Perhaps I should start a ‘what to do with dog poop' forum; but then again, it is only me and Bible and the occasional visitor using the forum.

The hungry man

Dear Mr. President,

The man, who delivered free newspapers to my letterbox, asked me for bread when he saw me collect the post.

He was sitting on the opposite side of the road sorting the papers. He called the bread by a different name, and I had to ask him to explain what he was asking for.

My first reaction was to feel annoyed, because we see so much food being thrown away by people, pretending to be hungry, to play on our emotions to get money for booze instead. Professional liars.

Then I remember that it has been some weeks since I saw food being thrown away.
Perhaps people are really starving.
The man’s face flashed in front of my eyes.
His skin was darker than that of our local native population. He looked thin and sickly. His eyes were hollow.

My husband just left and I was alone at home. How do I know he was not going to pull a knife out and stab me when I hand him the bread?

I turned my back to him and closed the door so I could feel safe.

Perhaps I am a sucker, I thought. Let it not be recorded in my book of life , when I one day stand in front of the pearly gates, and the gatekeeper refuses me entrance because I turned a hungry man away when I had plenty to give.

I went to the kitchen and spread some marg and apricot jam onto a slice of bread and grabbed a bottle of water and took it to him to still my conscience - or balance my heavenly books … whatever.

I could have given him much more, but I still was not convinced that he was honest.

O, I wish I lived in a country where we can trust people again.
I am at heart a Samaritan but here in South Africa it as called “a sucker”!

Original post from : (http://grannypolitics.iblog.co.za)

Dear Mr. President,

Dear Mr. President, (Original post from http://grannypolitics.iblog.co.za/)
It is still a freezing cold winter morning outside.

It is early still. The time that people leave their homes to go to work.
A woman walks past my window. She looks like someone’s mother.
Her skin is drawn and her young face is wrinkled like that of a woman twenty years her senior.
She is thin. Her legs are bare and her bare feet are inside thin damp shoes. A thin sarong (for a skirt) covers the lower half of her body. A worn, thin, long sleeved faded sweater covers her upper half.
Under her arm she clutches a bag that met its last owner.
She walks as brisk as she can because it keeps her body warm so she can not feel the cold …….
So she can not feel her tummy aching for food. So she can not remember sending her children off to school without something to eat or drink this morning.
Her eyes scan the houses for one that looks friendly. One that may give her a job this morning.

The vision of getting some money to buy soup bones, maze, bread and beans to prepare a meal for her family tonight keeps her going. She can see her children filling their tummies and laugh a joke …… and dream about a better tomorrow. The one president Zuma promised.

She disappeared down the road. I reach out for my cup of tea and wonder what I would put on my toast this morning, honey or marmalade.

Somewhere far away, our country’s leaders are recovering from indigestion brought about from the rich breakfast they just indulged in. They have a full schedule. Many important decisions to make. There are the issues of the mines, the strikers, the economy and the upcoming summit. Yes, there are lots to deal with before lunch.

See how many days until
We reach our goal to MAKE POVERTY HISTORY by 2015

(http://sites.google.com/site/unityinafrica/)

Of wat praat ek alles

Bin People

The bin people - Cape Town suburb.10-06-2009

The activity at the garbage bins is a social indicator for a region.

No activity would mean that the poverty needs of a community are being met.

Today is bin-day. (Wednesdays is the day that we all one wheel our wheelie-bins outside onto our driveways in readiness for the garbage disposal truck.)
They have a golden rule: "whatever is not inside the bin will not be collected" So food, clothing or newspapers must be put inside the bin for the poorest of the poor to collect before the truck arrives.
It is a weekly ritual in our neighborhood.
The lucky organized bin-scavengers come in groups of two or more and neatly pack their shopping trolleys. They stack the trolley neatly and tightly to fit as much recyclable into it as they can. Their dedication to the job is the same as with any other job. This is their living.
Then you have the newcomers. They are not organized yet. The lucky ones carry rug sacks but the very new, Zimbabweans and other newcomers to the area, just have plastic shopping bags. Most of them are looking for food.
There is another brand of the rug sack brigade that has a criminal intent. They look for documents and ID papers.

I heard the shopping trolleys being pushed down the road very early. Were they the early-birds who wanted to catch the best recyclables? --- Or was it the house breakers making for the taxi rank to get to the buyers early?

Both sound the same
They both use shopping trolleys. (Theft of a shopping trolley in South Africa is regarded as a human right.) Stolen shopping trolleys are paid for by the consumer.

I have noticed more bin-scavengers with rug-sacks and very few trolleys this last month.
I have seen more people scratching the bins for food, but today it is very quiet in our street.
Yesterday I saw a woman sweeping the street. It was unusual, because there was not much rubbish in the gutters.

Last week there were a few people looking for newspapers and the box of newspapers I put into my bin was quickly snapped up.
.
I have not seen the glass collectors for a while.
I placed a box full of newspapers on top of my bin this morning, but no-one was interested.
I also put two cracked fish tanks next to the bin for the glass collectors, but it did not draw any interest.

Are the workers at the municipal offices waiting for community work opportunities?
Is the government succeeding in providing work?

The bin people and those hopefuls at the corners of the streets will be the measurement of how well the government fulfills its promise.


Of wat praat ek alles

Extreme de-clutter

Last year I would hear of someone emigrating from South Africa on a weekly basis.
Up to before the elections, recently, I am hearing about friends returning to South Africa.
The reason for the return is that they can not find jobs overseas.
One person said that the crime issue is one thing, but what use is safety when one is unhappy.


Emigrating and then returning, is a very extreme way to get rid of clutter.

Read the words of THE GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME here

Some interesting New Age facts About South Africa:

Some people say that Table Mountain is the basic chakra (energy center) of the earth. The earth seems to have more than one.
Other say that it is the sacral chakra.

There are important earth ley-lines on Table Mountain. As far as I remember, one runs through to Mc Gregor and further.
There is a Northern star-gate at the Pyramids.
It is said that the Southern star-gate is at Pietermaritzburg in Natal.

Sadly Zimbabwe is another important energy center of the earth - they say.

Like on land, it is claimed that there are powerful water crystal energy centers in the waters on and around the earth.

Cape Town is said to be near the Foot Water Crystal energy center.

Chew on that!

Here are more herkoukies:

• Http://www.ofspiritandsoul.com/earth%20vortices/vortices.html

• http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message210709/pg1
• http://white_granny.iblog.co.za/2009/04/18/198691/
  

Of wat praat ek alles

Narrowing the gap or leveling the playing field

Are we narrowing the gap between rich and poor or leveling the playing field to dirt level.


We had to change our M-net decoder, so we decided to have breakfast at a nearby well-known chain-restaurant.

The restaurant was packed, which meant that the food was as good as it has been for decades.
We chose this particular restaurant because they make nice coffee. We also like the breakfasts they serve at a very affordable price.

The waitress took our order and brought our very hot coffee. The cups were also hot, and I wondered if they heated it up in a microwave. It was very nice, but not “second cup” nice. It was just too hot. You do not get a choice of hot or cold milk, just Xxxxx coffee. Nice Xxxxx coffee, but. I mentioned the microwave suspicion to my husband and he said “What do you expect from a Xxxxx restaurant?”


Next the waitress threw the cutlery, partially wrapped in the serviette, onto the table. No place mat or side plate, we are expected to eat from the snotty-kids-fingers' table. I picked up the knife and fork and, using the serviette, I started polishing the invisible snot from the cutlery. Then I placed my cutlery on top of the serviette. My husband watched my antics and said: “What do you expect from a Xxxxx?”

The breakfast came and it looked very tasty. I ordered, the smallest breakfast of bacon, and soft egg and toast. My husband ordered a man-sized one with his egg well done.

I waited for the side plate, butter and jam, and hoped the place mat would arrive late, but none came. When I said “Is this it?” My husband said: “What do you expect from a Xxxxx?”

We asked for marmalade and butter. It arrived with no side plate and butter-knife.
I looked at the narrow pointed steak knife I used for my breakfast. It was full of egg, so I used the second serviette that came with the butter to wipe the egg from the knife.
I was staring at it and thought it would have been so much easier to use a butter knife.
My husband looked at me and before I opened my mouth to say something, he said:
“What do you expect from a XXXXX?”

Eventually, my husband got up and asked for a butter knife. Another waitress took one from the tray and handed it to our waitress to pass it on to him. The other waitress was not going to serve someone from another table.

I looked at the snotty finger table and wished for a side plate. I said: “I don’t suppose they will bring a side plate?”
He answered: “What do you expect from a XXXXX?”

My dinner plate was a bright egg yellow so I discarded the idea to butter my toast on it.
I considered tipping the butter and jam out onto the table and using that saucer, but decided it was too small. I then spread the second serviette on the table and used it as a side plate.
As I looked up at my husband, he opened his mouth and started to say: “W ...” And I said: “Don’t say it again.”
“I do expect a side plate, butter knife, place mat and butter and jam with my toast.
Whether I pay R17 or R170 for my breakfast, that is what I expect in a sit-down restaurant. I want Spur quality service - even at a Xxxxx!”

“Is this an example of narrowing the gap or just treating everyone like pigs?” I thought.
When the waitress brought the bill I noticed for the first time how sad she looked. She looked as if she was going to burst out in tears any moment. I tried to cheer her up by saying how nice the food was, but she ignored us.

I said to my husband he must give her a nice big tip to cheer her up. We left - never to return again.

One can be so quick to judge, but we never know what is happening in the lives of those we meet in passing.

Of what praat ek alles.

16-04-2009

March 2009 best Table Mountain webcams

(The original post is from http://white_granny.iblog.co.za/ )

This month’s White-Granny “Best Cape Town Webcam” award goes to two websites.

I can not decide which one is the best

You may vote in the comments section of this blog if you wish.

This month there is a toss-up between

The MAC website at
http://www.cape-town.at/webcam.htm

And our best maintained Milnerton Lagoon webcam and other great webcams:

http://www.kapstadt.de/livecam.htm

They are both great sites and give the visitor value for their click.

_________________________________________________________________

Other great live webcams:

http://www.xplorer.co.za/local/webcams/index.html

http://www.alltravel.co.za/webcam/

http://www.sanparks.com/

Parasitic behavior of doctors and medical aid schemes

The heading of the newspaper article reads: "Plan to replace doctors' ethical tariff comes under fire"

It was proposed that as from April patients sign a document agreeing that they are prepared to pay a doctor more than the medical aid is prepared to charge. This means that people struggling for money will have to suffer their illness and possibly die, or go into dept.

It may also mean that we may have to join another medical aid fund to pay the amount the doctors do not cover. Already I have to pay my doctor fifty rand upfront every time I visit her even if it is only for ten minutes to write out a script, she would then claim from the medical aid scheme what they are prepared to pay for the treatment.

I am a sixty year old woman, and my medical aid covers me for pregnancies, prostate cancer, miscarriages, and a host of other problems I do not need coverage for at this stage of my life.
If medical aids cover individuals according to heir needs, perhaps patients have the necessary coverage for their health requirements.

Paying into a medical aid scheme should mean peace of mind when one is ill. At this rate it is more viable for the majority of people to just put that money into a bank savings account for the purpose to use it only for medical expenses. If the employers will agree to pay their portion into such a bank account also, it would be a better option for most people. Then they can just join an emergency hospital and accident scheme for peace of mind.

Medical aid schemes should look at what they pay their executives and see if the money drain does not lie there. How much does the executive earn compared to the doctor? Who works the hardest? What does the patient deserve? Both the medical aid schemes and the doctor should serve the patient. Currently they both function like parasites sucking the patients' emotional and financial health.

It is time that companies learn to create a balance between the payment of executive staff, the profits the company incurs and the service they provide.

Sloppy dressers

When did we become so sloppy in our dress?

When I was young, boys and men's trousers were tailor made to fit.

While I was waiting for someone outside a busy shopping center, I noticed how ugly the foot and leg wear of most Tableviewers are.
People's ankles have a wrinkly-neck appearance with the ugliest footwear to round it off.
Did this sloppiness happen because women are working and no longer have the time to shorten trouser legs?
Are the shops selling only clothes modeled on tall people? (Which means all normal size and short people looks untidy)?
Are people no longer fashion conscious?
Do people have an untidy consciousness?
Do we consider appearance to be unimportant?
Is untidiness sexy?

I don't know what the answer is, but next time you find yourself waiting for someone at a shopping center, just do an ankle study and you will see what I mean.
People no longer dress their ankles up.
It is as if we are not interested in anything below the knees.

Are we eating Africa?

It is a scorcher today, here in Cape Town.

When I suggested to my husband that the least the conservationists in the area could do was to put monitors on duty to keep people and dogs away from the Oystercatchers, that are in their breeding season, here on our beaches. His reply was: "Wat jy waar gaan kry? "(*1) He said that the conservationists are spread too thinly and the other workers would not work over the weekends.

Perhaps we should be grateful that this is Blaauwberg and not Zimbabwe.

In Zimbabwe those little Oystercatcher eggies and chicks would have looked very inviting on the breakfast frying pan, especially if the Oystercatcher was lying next to it. People would kill for such a feast. When one's own life is endangered by starvation; Who cares about the life of a bird?

Could you imaging what would happen if the resource mismanagement strategies from Zimbabwe has a domino effect in other African nations?

If the Armageddon and a global meltdown is not upon us, could you imagine a "heaven on earth" in first world countries with the balancing factor of "hell on earth" in Africa?

Could "Die geween en die kners van tande(*2)" that the Bible predicts, run concurrently with the "Heaven on earth" which is also mentioned in the same scripture?

If we eat, tread on, and build on everything that makes Africa unique, is it possible that Africa will in the, not so distant, future, become a cesspool of disease, crime and dust with no clean water or food?

Already the symbol of the "African lion" and "the wildlife paradise in Africa" is being replaced by the image of dying babies suckling from empty breasts with flies looking for a bit of moisture in their eyes and on their dry, cracking lips.

All African leaders should study what is happening in Zimbabwe and what was the turning point for this prosperous country, and then make sure it does not happen on their own turf.

One cannot blame the first world and past inhumanities any more. We need to look at recent history and blame ourselves. The first world countries poured multi-billions into Africa and created quite a number of billionaires, but how much of that money filtered down to the people it was intended for?

The African leaders have never been so rich and the people never so poor.

Even during the days of slavery, most people had food on the table and many more ate very well.

Translation: Afrikaans to English.

*¹(Wat jy waar kry? - where would they come from?)

*²(Geween en kners van tande - Weeping and grinding of the teeth)

Most people in South Africa are bilingual and mix expressions from two or three languages in one sentence. Perhaps this is the beginning of a new South African language. A rainbow nation lingo.

November Webcam watch November 2008

Live webcams of Table Mountain and Cape Town

Many of the Cape Town webcams are down this month.

This month’s best Table Mountain view

FROM MAC CLUB

http://www.milnertonaquaticclub.co.za/pages/knots.asp.

OTHER GOOD WEBCAMS

Greenpoint Stadium

http://6000.co.za/green-point-stadium-live-webcam-feeds/

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This website gives different views of Cape Town and Table Mountain, as well as the cable stations.

(http://www.kapstadt.de/livecam.htm)

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Previous White_Granny Posts:

• June 2008 (http://www.white_granny.iblog.co.za/2008/07/13/156607/)

• May 2008 (http://www.white_granny.iblog.co.za/2008/05/11/webcam-update-cape-town-rietvlei-table-mountain/)

• February 2008 (http://www.white_granny.iblog.co.za/2008/02/02/table-mountain-links/)

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Nature Webcams

• http://www.sanparks.org/webcams/

• http://www.tembe.co.za/webcam.htm

• http://www.taugamelodge.co.za/WebCams.asp

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Knysna, Victoria Bay

• http://www.tembe.co.za/webcam.htm

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Durbanville

• http://www.grapevine-cottage.co.za/webcam.php

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Live Webcams from the Net

• http://www.opentopia.com/hiddencam.php

Introduction and WEBCAMS of Cape Town

"Praat nie twak nie" (Afrikaans for "not talking nonsense") is intended to be a blog about things that other people did that I either like or admire. There are so my wonderful people and things to admire around the world

From where I sit here on the southern point of Africa, one can get the impression that Cape Town is the center of the world. Like the Sydney Opera-house, or the London Bridge, just our monument is real and not manmade.

Table Mountain is real, nature is real, but around us swirl so many people chasing after illusions.

Looking at Table Mountain gives me a sense of permanence.

Table Mountain is no longer the safe haven where one can go for a hike and feel safe and rejuvenated.

Criminals lurk behind the bushes here too.

Some people no longer risk going on a nature hike in Cape Town but from a distance, the mountain is beautiful and majestic.

One can sit in the comfort of some of one of our Milnerton to Big Bay beachfront restaurants and enjoy a nice meal, with a free view of Table Mountain, in comfort and safety.

Most of the time. Occasionally an armed hold-up may spoil your appetite, but that is so occasional, and only two friends of my friends died that way.

To kick the praatnie twak nie blog into action, here are a few links to webcams of Table Mountain.

The best Cape Town Webcams. You can not beat this site.


The foot of Table Mountain and other webcams


Rietvlei webcam (from The Milnerton Aquatic Club)


Webcam Compilation by White Granny